Several Bitcoin Miners Hunted by Icelandic Authorities

Several Bitcoin Miners Hunted by Icelandic Authorities

The latest theft involving Cryptocurrency mining has occurred in the Arctic-island of Iceland. Hundreds of miners have been involved in this scandal, leading to several arrests from the Iceland police.

Details About the Incidents

According to a report that has been released by the Associated Press, more than 600 Bitcoin mining machines were stolen in two incidents that occurred in 2017 December and the first month of 2018. Even as the investigation continues, up to eleven individuals have so far been arrested.

Those who have been arrested in what has been referred to as a Big Bitcoin Heist include security personnel amongst other individuals. Even though the roles they played in the incident has not been revealed, two of the suspects who were arrested are still held behind bars.
This came after a Reykjanes District Court made a determination regarding the case.

Biggest in History

According to senior officials in this island in the Arctic region, the heist is the biggest that has been seen in the history of this small country. The machines that disappeared during this unfortunate incident are reported to be worth a tune close to $2 million. While giving his account of the whole incident, Olafur Kjartannson, a senior police officer said that the incident has never been seen in that region.

Mr. Olafur Kjartannson is a senior police officer operating in the southwestern region of Reykjanes, the same location where the heist was carried out.

He went ahead to reveal that all indications point to the incident being one of the most organized crimes in that region.

Bitcoin Mining Environment

Mining Bitcoin, which is the current largest Cryptocurrency in terms of market cap, is not an easy task. One of the regions that have proved to provide a stable ecosystem for mining this precious virtual currency is Iceland. This can be attributed to many factors, but the top of the list is the country’s great access to a source of a geothermal energy as well as its thriving data center industry.

Just as time moves by, senior government officials have opted to take advantage of this opportunity. It has been reported that some of them have started pursuing the idea of imposing taxation to the mining operations carried out in this land.

Larceny Target?

In the wake of this incident, some have gone ahead to claim that the theft of the miners could be a target of larceny. This has not come as a surprise given the series of events that have happened in the past.

One of these events is the surge of virtual currencies prices that have been seen in this region for the past few weeks. There are also other similar theft incidents that have occurred in the past. A Bitcoin miner, BTCS lost a total of 165 miners in 2016, barely two years ago. The incident occurred at a facility located in the US’ North Carolina state.

At the moment, the investigation is still ongoing, and the authorities hope that the perpetrators will be brought to book.